One more dies of gastro, toll rises to 6

Another person has died of gastroenteritis here taking the toll to six on Monday.

Subash Chander, a resident of Gandhi Camp - the area where the gastroenteritis outbreak has claimed five lives already - died on Sunday night.

More than two dozen people, including children, have been admitted to the civil hospital here. Since October 5 hundreds of persons from Gandhi Camp locality have approached the civil hospital with gastroenteritis symptoms of which 32 are undergoing treatment at the civil hospital while the rest were discharged after treatment.

Although the health department claimed that it was providing adequate treatment to gastroenteritis patients, a visit to the civil hospital on Sunday night showed a different picture: a newly deputed doctor, Dr Kamal Aggarwal, was alone attending to all the patients. On Monday, two more doctors were deputed to handle the increasing number of patients.

Also, due to non-availability of beds at hospitals, patients were forced to bring their own or make do with the cemented benches.

Local MLA Ashwani Sekhri, who visited Gandhi Camp to inspect the conditions prevailing in the locality, blamed the municipal council for the gastro outbreak. He alleged that due to its apathy the sewerage system had been choked for several months and that had gradually contaminated the drinking water.

He said the matter had been brought to the notice of principal secretary (health department) Vinni Mahajan, who had assured him that she would send a high-level team of doctors to provide immediate vaccination to patients.

Sekhri also demanded a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the kin of those who died of gastroenteritis and Rs 1 lakh for those suffering from it.

When municipal council executive officer Manjinder Singh Bendesa visited Gandhi Camp to take stock of the situation on Monday, angry residents held a protest and forced him to abort his inspection.